


Mask

by DeckofDragons



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Cuddling, First Kiss, Fluff, Hugging, Light Angst, M/M, Pyro taking off his mask and suit for the first time, Scout accidentally fucks up a little, SpyDad, he's trying his best though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 17:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17871671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Scout wants to see what's under Pyro's gas mask. Pyro isn't sure he's ready for that yet though.





	Mask

Was it weird to be dating someone without knowing what they’re face looked like? Or what they’re voice sounded like unmuffled? Surely it was, right? Was it a bad thing though? … Probably not. It was odd and Scout didn’t understand it in the slightest but Pyro clearly had a thing about taking off his suit and mask, Scout could respect that. He could patiently wait for Pyro to take it off when he was ready to. … Except being patient was hard.

“Pyro, can I ask you something?” Scout asked one day when they were hanging out in Pyro’s room after a battle, tending to their weapons. Well, _Pyro_ was tending to his flamethrower, Scout was being lazy and his curiosity was strong today. Today was the third month anniversary of when they’d started dating and he still didn’t know what Pyro’s face looked like.

Pyro paused for a few seconds before giving Scout a thumbs up. He was always a bit odd after a battle as if his mind were elsewhere and it took effort for him to pull himself back to the real world. It was another thing Scout was curious about but… how would he even ask about it without being rude?

“Uh… why do you wear your suit and mask all the time?”

Another long pause, maybe now wasn’t a good time to ask. Pyro did eventually answer though but his voice was too muffled to be understood.

“What?” Scout hated asking people to repeat themselves – who didn’t? – but with Pyro it was often necessary. If he took off the mask though it wouldn’t be.

“I… just do,” Pyro said much more clearly with a shrug. He then went back to focusing on his flamethrower, cleaning and maintaining it. That wasn’t a real answer though.

“Would you ever take it off for me?”

Pyro didn’t respond not even after a full minute had passed.

“Pyro?” Scout tried. Again, though he got no response, Pyro didn’t even look up this time. Right so, now was probably not the time for this. “Okay, we’ll talk later then.” Scout patted him on the shoulder and left.

 

Later after supper when Scout knocked on Pyro’s door Pyro answered it and hugged him as he always did. Good, Scout hadn’t done anything to make Pyro feel too uncomfortable, he’d just been in that weird after battle funk of his.

“Want to go to my room and play some games and stuff?” Scout asked. There wasn’t much around the base they could do for fun while also expecting any sort of assured privacy so hanging out in each other’s rooms had kind of become their date thing when going to town wasn’t an option. Which it often wasn’t since Pyro couldn’t drive and Scout wasn’t trusted with the car – it was super unfair, he’d only crashed it once and it hadn’t been that bad.

“Okay,” Pyro said, nodding his head with enthusiasm before following Scout out.

Once in his room, Scout goofed around a bit as was normal, focusing on the game they’d decided to play; Jenga. But he couldn’t ignore the questions dancing around in his head forever.

“So uh… about what we were talking about earlier? Why do you always wear your suit and mask all the time?”

Pyro paused, his body going a bit tense. “I just do,” was probably what he said, shrugging. So same answer as last time.

“Would you… take them off for me?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to see your face.” Scout had _always_ wanted to see Pyro’s face. But he wanted to see it even more now that they were dating. “You trust me, right?”

Pyro had hunched in on himself and he looked down at his hands he wrung them together. He nodded though, he trusted Scout.

“So, you can show me?”

There was long tense silence from Pyro. Of course he was nervous, this was like a big deal for him, right? But everything would be fine, they trusted each other and were a couple. Scout just had to give him some time to build up to a response, either to say he wasn’t quite ready for that yet or just rip the band aid off right now and take off the gas mask at least, showing Scout his face. Hopefully it would be the latter but if it was the former Scout would just have to be patient with him. It would be hard but he’d manage somehow.

But still the silence stretched until… Pyro stood up and left the room. He moved quick enough that when he pulled the door shut behind him as he exited it almost slammed shut.

Scout jerked back into motion, shooting back up to his feet. He almost chased after Pyro but stopped before even opening the door, his hand resting on the knob. He’d fucked up big time, hadn’t he? The mask made it _impossible_ to read Pyro’s expression but the getting up and just _leaving_ as fast as possible, not even saying anything on the way out could only mean he was mad, right? Or at least rather upset. And it was _entirely_ Scout’s fault.

“Ah fuck,” he groaned as he gave up and flopped onto his bed instead. How could he have been so _stupid_? He’d _known_ the subject was a big deal to Pyro and he’d seen it upset Pyro in the past, why would now be any different? … He’d just thought that because they were much closer now that it would be okay to talk about. He’d just wanted to know what Pyro’s face looked like, that wasn’t too much to ask for was it? Maybe he should’ve asked differently? Made it clear that he was willing to wait for when Pyro was ready to show him?

Too late to change anything now though. The only question was how bad _exactly_ had he fucked up? How upset or mad had _was_ Pyro? Ugh, why did Scout have to be so _dumb_?

***

“ _You trust me, right?_ ” “ _So, you can show me?_ ” rang though Pyro’s head as he paced in his room. Yes, he trusted Scout but… he didn’t feel like he could show him. Did that mean he… he didn’t trust Scout _enough_? Did Scout think Pyro didn’t trust him at _all_ because of this? Had Pyro ruined their relationship by not wanting to show Scout his face? He… wanted to though, he _really_ did but… was too afraid to.

Now he had to, right? Because Scout wanted him to and he trusted Scout and they were dating. Trust was of the utmost importance in that kind of relationship, right? So, he should show Scout his face. But… but… he _couldn’t_. It was too scary.

With a half groan, half whimper, he reached under his bed and pulled out his flamethrower. He needed to burn something down, retreat into the land of rainbows and happiness to escape all this.

He kitted the rest of the way up and exited. Thankfully he didn’t run into anyone else until he stepped outside the base. It was Sniper, he was just stepping out of his campervan.

“Hey mate,” he said, looking Pyro up and down. “Whatever you’re about to burn down don’t uh… overdo it, ‘kay?”

Pyro nodded and gave him a thumbs up. He’d be sure he was far away from the base before indulging in his urge to burn anything. He’d been scolded one too many times for putting the base in danger of being burnt down to want to go through that again. And he didn’t want to risk his friends getting hurt.

“See you later then I guess,” Sniper said after him as they both moved on.

***

“Uh, yeah, I ran into him on his way out of the base. He had his flamethrower with him so I presume he was way to burn something down,” Sniper said.

Scout had to hold back a groan. That meant Pyro was upset, he only ran off out of base on his own to burn something down when he was heavily distressed about something. It was _Scout_ who caused him that distress this time.

“Why? Something happen?” Sniper asked, leaning back against his campervan.

“Yeah, sort of,” Scout admitted with a sigh. “I need to talk to him about it. So, you happen to see what direction he went? It had only been a little over an hour since the incident, Pyro couldn’t have gotten far. He was undoubtedly in the midst of burning down whatever suitable thing he’d found that was flammable by now though, which wasn’t a good time to talk him. But still Scout wanted to at least know where he was.

“Nope, sorry mate.”

“Well… thanks anyway.” At least Scout knew sort of what Pyro was doing. “He’ll come back eventually I’m sure.” What if he _didn’t_ though? What if he just up and left? … Surely not, right? He loved his job, he wouldn’t leave it even if he did decide he never wanted to see Scout again… right?

Scout would just have to wait for him to come back to talk to him about it. He could do that, no problem. … ~~Unless he never came back.~~

 

“I missed up real bad,” Scout said as soon as Spy answered the door for him.

Spy sighed and let him. “What did you do this time?”

“’This time’? What do you mean ‘this time?’” Scout didn’t mess up _that_ often, did he?

Spy rolled his eyes as he pulled a cigarette out of the pack in his pocket. “You going to tell me or not?” he said as he sat in his chair again. There was another chair across his little tea table that Scout sometimes sat in when he came in here to chat with Spy about stuff but he was too full of nervous energy to sit now. It was the next day, nearing midday, and Pyro was _still_ not back.

“Well uh… I might’ve asked Pyro to take his suit and mask off for me. He got upset and left.”

“Why would you ask him to do that?”

“Because… because… he’s my boyfriend, I… want to know what his face looks like. That’s okay to want, isn’t it?” There wasn’t anything wrong with wanting that, right? Right now, it felt like there was and that Scout was just too dumb to know what it was.

“Yes, that’s okay to want. But let me guess, you asked him in a way that made him feel pressured to do it right then and there.”

“Well uh… maybe, sort of, I don’t know.” Scout hadn’t _meant_ to put pressure on him, he hadn’t really put into thought into what he’d said. He _should’ve_ though, no doubt about that. “What do I do?” he looked back up at Spy.

Spy gave him a look that seemed to say ‘why are you asking me?’ “Have you tried apologizing?”

“Well… I would but… he’s left the base. He’s been gone since last night and… and… I don’t know what to do.” He could go looking for him, but he didn’t know where to start looking. And… what if Pyro didn’t want to be found by Scout or anyone else? “What if… he never comes back?”

“Don’t be stupid, he’ll come back.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” It could happen, _right_? That’d be one way to solve the problem, just abandon Scout and never come back.

Spy glared at him, openly annoyed now. As he opened his mouth to probably call Scout ‘stupid’ again – a fair and honest assessment – a knock on the door interrupted him. He gave it a look before standing up with a shrug to walk over and answer it. “It’s your boyfriend,” he said, turning his head to look at Scout.

“Oh.” Scout walked over to see that it was indeed Pyro standing in the doorway. Pyro gave him a small wave in greeting.

Spy put a hand on Scout shoulder and pushed him out of the room to stand beside Pyro. “You two need to talk, don’t kill each other,” he said before closing the door on them.

“Hey Pyro,” Scout said. Should he force a grin, nonchalance, or what? “Look I’m…”

Pyro held up a finger, putting it over Scout’s mouth, the universal sign to shut up. Pyro then took his wrist and pulled him down the hallway towards his room. Once there, he locked the door, even lowering the crossbar as if he were afraid someone might try to break in.

“Look Pyro, I’m really…”

Pyro held up his finger once more and Scout shut up again. He’d been the one to upset Pyro earlier so if Pyro wanted him to shut up, he would. But what was this about? Was Pyro about to… break him with him? That… couldn’t be the case though, could it? Over something so small. … It wasn’t small to Pyro though.

But Pyro didn’t say anything. He just stood there, not looking at Scout and shifting his weight from foot to foot. It lasted for several long torturous seconds before he jerked into motion. First, he slipped his gloves off, then he reached up and grabbed his mask, slipping it off in one quick movement. Then he was unzipping his suit and working his way out of it.

Scout should say something, right? He was getting his wish after all, he was finally able to see Pyro’s face and that was awesome. But… what could he _possibly_ say?

Pyro was quick and efficient, going from fully suited up to just wearing what looked like pajamas in less than minute. “There, happy?” he said once he was done. His voice and body trembled as if he were terrified. He still wasn’t looking at Scout either, ducking his head as he clasped his hands together.

Scout reached out a hand to comfort him but froze before actually touching him. What if that wasn’t welcome? What if that just made it worse? … But Scout needed to do _something_ and for perhaps the first time in his life words were failing him. What could he possibly say to _this_? He was getting what he’d asked for but… Pyro was scared and trembling and… it was Scout’s fault still.

Scout put his hand on Pyro’s shoulder. Thankfully Pyro didn’t flinch, he even seemed to maybe calm down a little. “Y-yeah, thank you but… you didn’t have to do this. I… shouldn’t have asked the way I did. I… I pressured you to do it and I shouldn’t have, I’m sorry.”

“I _did_ have to. I trust you.” Well at least Pyro wasn’t mad.

“You didn’t though.” He had though and Scout would be lying to himself if he tried to pretend he didn’t feel honored and pleased that Pyro trusted him enough to do so even if the circumstances behind the reveal were less than ideal. “But uh… can I… hug you?” It was weird to ask but with how scared Pyro seemed to be it was best to ask first, just in case.

“Yes, please,” Pyro answered, voice filled with desperation. It was _so_ much clearer and easier to understand without the mask muffling it.

Scout hugged him and Pyro squeezed him back, clinging to Scout as if he were drowning. “This is really nice,” he said with a whisper after several seconds had gone by and he’d relaxed a little, the first whisper of his Scout could understand.

“Yeah, it is nice.” Scout had gotten used to hugging him in the suit but it had never been super comfortable. _Real_ contact like this was a million times better. “You want to cuddle on the bed?” _That_ would be even better too.

“Yes.” Good, Pyro was starting to sound more happy than terrified.

They separated only long enough to get on the bed. Pyro was nearly instantly cuddling up to him, clinging to him and burying his face into his chest. It was warm and comfortable, wonderful in every way. After a while, Pyro seemed to even have relaxed fully. _Good_ , the last thing Scout wanted was for Pyro to be unhappy or uncomfortable without his suit on when with him.

“You know, you’re kind of hot,” Scout said.

“You really think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.” Pyro squealed in delight, squeezing Scout a bit tighter. “I think you’re hot too. Can I kiss you?” Oh right, without the mask, they could properly kiss at last.

“Of course.”

Pyro pulled back so he could kiss Scout on the cheek. No way was he going to get away with just that though. Scout leaned in to kiss him on the mouth, he froze for a second or two in surprise before returning it. Neither of them were all that good at kissing but that was fine, it was their first one, they’d get better at it in time.


End file.
